Will a newly-wed spouse's account be affected by her husband's bad credit?

As I understand it, one spouse's credit isn't affected by the other spouse's bad credit UNLESS they apply for a loan or credit card or something else that requires a credit check together. But each spouse still has his or her own credit file, and one person's credit score doesn't go down because the spouse's credit score is poor. Here's an article about this issue: http://www.bills.com/will-my-spouses-bad-credit-affect-my-credit-score/ There is a word of caution in the article, though.... Quote--- Generally speaking, simply marrying a person with a poor credit history will not damage the spouse's credit.

The only way that I can foresee your credit being affected by your spouse's poor credit history is if you added yourself as an authorized user on any of your spouse's accounts with less-than-perfect payment histories. If you're added to any of your partner's accounts with that have delinquent payment histories, these accounts could appear on your credit report as well, thereby damaging your credit score. As I understand it, one spouse's credit isn't affected by the other spouse's bad credit UNLESS they apply for a loan or credit card or something else that requires a credit check together.

But each spouse still has his or her own credit file, and one person's credit score doesn't go down because the spouse's credit score is poor. Generally speaking, simply marrying a person with a poor credit history will not damage the spouse's credit. The only way that I can foresee your credit being affected by your spouse's poor credit history is if you added yourself as an authorized user on any of your spouse's accounts with less-than-perfect payment histories.

If you're added to any of your partner's accounts with that have delinquent payment histories, these accounts could appear on your credit report as well, thereby damaging your credit score.